


At the Bus-Stop Outside M&S

by ToughPaperRound



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Buck gets wet, Ficlet, First Meetings, M/M, Manchester UK, Manchester is a place where it rains quite a lot, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22347934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToughPaperRound/pseuds/ToughPaperRound
Summary: No matter what the Universe, when they meet up, they get warm sparkly feelings.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 19
Kudos: 99
Collections: Buddie AU fanfics





	At the Bus-Stop Outside M&S

**Author's Note:**

> This single-storey fic is packed with original British features such as queues, rain, trousers, pavements, lifts, rain, and folks driving on the left.
> 
> This turned up cos I wanted a fic with Buck getting wet. I mean the hoses are right there. Is it really too much to ask?

Buck presses several more buttons in the lift for his fellow passengers, and uses his polite smile that shows he was well brought-up.

Why the polite smile? Because Marvellous-Ruddy-Derek-from-Marketing had just informed him that he needed the basement floor. 

"Basement floor, please, mate."

Which means that he's on  _ his _ way home via the basement garage. Which means he brought that flashy new motor of his. Again.

Buck finds himself wishing that Derek's new motor had been a convertible and that the roof mechanism was stuck on 'open' today. Because, what-a-bloody-surprise, today it's raining at 5.15pm.

Buck has no car. 'Cos what use is a car when you live in a city like Manchester, and when said city has public transport that works, and when climate change is totally the responsibility of every citizen. But… it's raining. And Buck's right shoe has a hole in the sole.

Buck exits the lift on the ground floor. He enters the cramped foyer where the fancy reception desk Proclaims a Company Aesthetic that Buck can't be bothered to keep track of. Whatever it is this month, it doesn't affect his accounting work. 

Except for the appalled noise he makes when he sees the latest Consultant's fee go through the system. 'Money for Old Rope' doesn't even begin to cover it. His old man was so wrong: accounting was  _ not _ the best place to be to make a good wage. If he'd gone into Image Consulting, he'd be able to retire by now, practically.

Buck shoves his arms into the sleeve of his old, olive-green Pac-a-Mac and pulls the hood up over his head. It's still slightly damp from this morning, he notes. Wonderful.

Bracing himself in the over-warm foyer for one last dry breath, Buck pulls on the heavy front door and makes a start on his journey home. A left turn takes him round the block past the garage entrance and he hunches his shoulders as a damp, chill wind stiffens.

A sharp toot of an obnoxious car-horn is all the warning Buck gets before a wave of grey water soaks most of his right side. He looks up and exclaims in horror to see that a blue car had gone through a puddle and raised the entire contents of it up onto his trousers and across the pavement. Sodding-Derek-from-Sodding-Marketing. Of sodding course.

"Remind me again, what do we need  _ him _ for?" mutters Buck to himself bitterly. He makes a note to 'accidentally' mess up the dick-head's payslip again next month.

Well, the day can't get much worse from here, so Buck steps onward towards the High Street where he will catch the bus home. It will, no doubt, be crowded and steamed up, but it should be warm and it will be on time. He has every confidence.

Arriving at the traffic lights in the High Street, Buck catches a glimpse of his usual number 118 bus just pulling away.

Damn.

Never mind, another will be along soon, he tells himself. He crosses the street carefully, stepping round puddles where he can. There are already a large number of fellow Mancunians waiting for buses once he reaches the right stop, so he politely waits in line next to the last would-be passenger.

Okay, so technically he is not _ under _ the roof of the bus-stop. He is at the very edge of that zone. He does consider squeezing in a little closer to his neighbour, a young Mum and her buggy, but she looks nervy already and he doesn't want to spook her. He could also speak up and ask everyone to budge up a bit… but… what's the point? He's already wet all down the right side, so he just turns to keep his left side under the shelter. Time passes. He thinks about getting his phone out to scroll uselessly, but he wants to keep it dry.

Time passes... Cold rain splooshes down onto Buck's Pac-a-Mac, dripping off the end of the bus-shelter-roof.

He turns his mind to thoughts of what he should have for tea tonight. A salad, he thinks, with kale, and beetroot and some quinoa. Some crunchy nuts or seeds to add over the top. Hmm, and all dressed with that tahini dressing he has leftover in the back of the fridge from last week. Hmm. Sounds… healthy. And chilly.

His mind turns itself, instead, to the toaster and a packet of crumpets. To a steaming mug of tea, a huge knob of butter melting into the crumpets, a massive hunk of that sharp Lancashire cheese, maybe a pickled onion… or just a decent slather of that damson jam his Mum sent him? A slice of his grandfather's Parkin would round his day out beautifully well.

Buck licks his lips and then shivers a little as the imagined heat from the crumpets fails to warm him enough.

A voice beside him chuckles, and Buck has the feeling of being watched.

He snaps his head to the side and large cold droplets of water fling off his Pac-a-Mac hood and onto the charcoal-grey, immaculate trousers of the next man in the queue. He takes a moment to think that his new neighbour's shiny shoes probably don't have a hole in the sole.

His eyes rake slowly up the man's form, taking in a smart wool coat, a strong hand, a jawline to cut steel with, and a pair of warm brown eyes watching him with amusement. Above all of this, this smirking neighbour holds an umbrella. Which is not unusual for the city, or the weather, but what is noteworthy about the umbrella is its design.

It is a bright, can't-possibly-miss-it, fabulous, rainbow.

A totally-wouldn't-look-out-of-place-in-a-Pride-Parade Rainbow. Well now. Maybe Buck's day is looking up, after all?

"Hi!" says Tall, Dark and Rainbow Umbrella Guy.

"Hi?" replies Buck, straightening up a little more and meeting Rainbow Guy's eyes full on. He is tall, this one. Shorter than Buck of course, but still, tall enough. He likes that.

"Yeah, Hi!" replies Rainbow Guy. "You seem cold, umm, do you think it would help if you shared my umbrella?"

"Cold? Yup, I am. I got drenched by my dick-head colleague's flashy motor back there and now, well…" Buck shrugs his shoulders and eyerolls up at the roof of the bus-stop.

"Yeah, it's not helping you much!" agrees Rainbow Guy, with a warm smile. Buck would like to see that smile again.

Maybe on Sunday mornings.

Preferably over a plate of toasted crumpets and a large mug of hot tea.

Buck shivers again and Rainbow Guy just puts out a tentative warm hand, grips Buck's coat at the elbow and urges him to step under the umbrella. Buck steps, ducking his head a little to fit in the space, then straightening up shyly as he meets Rainbow Guy's smile and says 'Thank you'.

A third warm smile is his reward. Rainbow Guy reaches into his breast pocket and withdraws a cloth square and offers it to Buck, "Here... to dry your face? It is clean, honest!"

When Buck takes the soft, laundered cotton square, he brings it up to his face and is struck by the warmth, and by the gentle cedarwood aroma. He pushes the hood back off his head and pats his face and hands dry. Then he pauses, unsure about the etiquette of returning a damp handkerchief.

Rainbow Guy says, "Oh, keep it, please! I get boxes of them every year from my Aunt. Who knows  _ what _ she thinks I need them for. Well, ha! Maybe she knew that one day I'd want to help you get dry…" and now Rainbow Guy looks unsure and looks down at his shoes.

"It's a great reason, sounds great to me," says Buck, just trying to get Tall, Dark and Gorgeous to look at him again.

It works. He smiles. Buck smiles. And then shivers again.

"Oh, hey, you really  _ are _ cold aren't you?" exclaims the guy, looking him over again whilst Buck looks down glumly at his soaked trousers, then raises his right foot and puts it down again to demonstrate the squelch it makes. "Did you say you got drenched by a car? You're still wet through? You need to get dry," he fusses.

He looks about him, getting his bearings. "Look, right... here's an idea," he says, determined, "why don't we head in here and you can grab a replacement pair of trousers, some dry socks too. You can get them on in the dressing rooms and then we can sit in their cosy cafe upstairs and share a plate of something toasty and a huge pot of tea. What d'you say, hmm? Good plan?"

"Great plan!" agrees Buck, astounded, "But you don't have to wait with me to do all that! And I really should just grin and bear it, my bus will be here sometime…"

"Nonsense! I'd feel awful if you caught a cold simply because I didn't insist!"

"Well…" havers Buck, "well, I don't even know your name!" he counters as he smiles across at his neighbour under the rainbow umbrella.

"Eddie!" says Rainbow Guy, as he firmly sticks out his hand for Buck to shake.

Buck takes his warm hand and feels the firm embrace engulf his chilled palm. He briefly wonders what this guy does for a living, but he'd bet anything that it has nothing to do with spreadsheets or paperclips. He'd love to find out more…

"Okay, thanks Eddie. I'm Buck! You can call me Buck."

**Author's Note:**

> There's much less of a slow-burn in my Manchester AU version. That way they can get out of the rain quicker 😉 💕
> 
> So.... still.searching for more 'Buck gets wet' fics? Join the queue!  
> Here's a good one, but there's a lot of hurt before the comfort - [Dunk Tank Duty](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22334977/) by LWF.  
> And [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22297378/) is a perfect fun little one called 'Mr July' which features pining (wet) Buck and Eddie.  
> And, a [Tumblr ficlet](https://lovelessmotel.tumblr.com/post/618660053107490817/summer-fun-in-the-sun-a-fic-for-marauder-girl/).
> 
> Feel free to recommend / write others.  
> I'm on [Tumblr](https://toughpaperround.tumblr.com/post/190392430693/at-the-bus-stop-outside-ms-toughpaperround/) (and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RoundTough/status/1219966888626835458?s=19/))


End file.
